Kris Kross rapper had a cocaine and heroin habit

03/05/2013

Kris Kross

Two familiar suspects were implicated in the death of rapper Chris Kelly. The 34 year-old, who found fame in the duo Kris Kross, had been taking cocaine and heroin on the night before he died. Full details will not be revealed until the coroner's toxicology report, but police have said that there are no signs of foul play.

Paramedics summoned to Kelly's Atlanta home found the rapper unresponsive with no signs of life and their attempts to revive him failed., He was pronounced dead at the local hospital a few hours later. Kelly's mother told police that he had been taking cocaine and heroin "speedballs" the night before and that she had taken him home to care for him. He had felt nauseous all day before passing out. In an interview with a radio station recorded just hours before his death, Kelly had talked frankly about his hard-living habits.

Kelly found fame when he was barely into his teens in the early 90s with Kris Kross, alongside Chris Smith. Their infectious novelty hit 'Jump' created a short-lived fashion for jumping around and wearing your jeans backwards. The duo followed up the hit with successful albums and movie cameos, but their career petered out in the mid 90s. Kelly never quite managed to attain that level of fame again, instead becoming increasingly reliant on drug cocktails. He and Smith had recently resurfaced as Kris Kross for a 20th anniversary concert earlier this year.

Kelly's family issued a statement: "To millions of fans worldwide he was the trendsetting, backwards pants-wearing one half of Kris Kross who loved making music, but to us he was just Chris - the kind, generous and fun-loving life of the party. Though he was only with us a short time, we feel blessed to have been able to share some incredible moments with him. His legacy will live on through his music and we will forever love him."